Salmond pledges 'bedroom tax' reverse

Alex Salmond promised that the under-occupancy charge - the so-called "bedroom tax" - would be abolished in the first year of an independent Scotland, during first ministers questions on 13 June 2013.

Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont had asked the first minister about a report from the Expert Working Group on Welfare, commissioned by the Scottish government, which recommended that an independent Scotland should continue to share the administration of pensions and benefits with the rest of the UK.

Ms Lamont suggested the first minister had perhaps "lost his mojo on independence" or thought the people of Scotland were "mugs".

She stated: "The truth is that the UK would control our currency, our economy and now our pensions."

The Scottish labour leader asked if SNP backbenchers might now set up a breakaway group; 'SNP for independence', because "the current plan is neither independence nor credible".

Mr Salmond said sharing the administration of a system does not mean having an identical policy within that system and gave the example of student loans, an area with shared administration but which delivered "two radically different systems" north and south of the border.

He said the reason he wanted independence was so that there could be "social justice for the Scottish people" and highlighted that the Labour party had no plans to repeal the charge.

In contrast, he continued: "This government will abolish the bedroom tax if we are elected as the first government of an independent Scotland. Not only will we abolish it, we will do it in the first year of that independent Scotland."

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